The 2023 Drivers Recruitment Program has been declared as a success by achieving its goal of introducing its participants to EuroNASCAR and testing new parts that will be used in 2024.
NASCAR Whelen Euro Series has completed their latest edition of the Drivers Recruitment Program (DRP). The 2023 November test was held at Circuit de Vendee on 16-17 November and gave participating drivers the opportunity to fully experience what it is like to drive the powerful EuroNASCAR stock cars.
Eight drivers have been selected to join the 2023 November DRP test: Henry Clausnitzer, Sasha Radola, Constantin Schöll, Julien Noel Rehberg, Thomas Blumberger, Daniel Boys, Kelvin Hassell and Florian Moral.
They are trained by the reigning EuroNASCAR 2 champion Paul Jouffreau and Rookie Trophy runner-up Thomas Dombrowski. EuroNASCAR’s CEO, President and founder Jerome Galpin is also present to not only guide the participating drivers, but also to complete a goal that will have an impact for the future.
Two drivers that received the headlines are Clausnitzer and Radola. Henry Clausnitzer, the reigning Boss GP champion in the Super Lights class (pictured above), finally realized his dream to test the EuroNASCAR cars after he gained interest in the series a few years ago.
“I’ve been following the EuroNASCAR Series for a few years now and I’m really happy about the opportunity to test at Fontenay-le-Comte,” said Clausnitzer, the 35-year old driver from Annahutte, Germany. “It was a nice experience to drive the car, meet the organization team and enjoy the environment.”
“The mixed conditions gave me the chance to feel the different handling of such a pure race car. It was also nice to talk to Jerome Galpin about the many possibilities to be involved in EuroNASCAR in the future. I enjoyed every single second of the whole day here in France.”
For Sasha Radola, the Croatian hillclimb star uses DRP as his opportunity to expand his boundaries. Radola aims to make a return to international road course racing in the future and saw the DRP as the perfect opportunity to make his first step in achieving his goal.
“It was a very interesting day for me,” said Radola. “There is no race series that offers such opportunities. It’s a good way to learn how everything works in EuroNASCAR and to try out the car.”
“The car is different from what I used to drive, just wow! It was easy to control the car in the wet, but in the dry I learned how hard it is to get the right pace. You have to be very precise and find the perfect line. For 2024 I will work hard to be on the grid and be part of the series.”
The other drivers each have their own goals that they want to achieve through the DRP. For instance, Constantin Schöll uses the DRP as his opportunity to make more outings in EuroNASCAR after a cameo appearance in Club Challenge at Zolder.
Julien Noel Rehberg saw DRP as an opportunity for the 17-year old German to make the step up from karting. For Brit Daniel Boys, DRP gave him the chance to test a new breed of stock cars after years of experience in series’ such as BriSCA F1.
A goal was also set by Galpin himself, who secretly used the DRP as a chance to test new parts for the 2024 season. According to euronascar.com, the new parts are designed “to improve the performance and driveability” of the car.
More information about the 2024 car will be revealed in the near future. Galpin states that it was “a successful day of testing to develop new technical solutions to make EuroNASCAR even better in 2024.”
Disclaimer: Credits for all photos are listed underneath each image.